The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is yet to decide on the way forward with a national recount.
After meeting for hours Thursday morning, the Commission was unable to make a decision and will resume its discussions at 15:00 hrs.
Commissioner Robeson Benn has put a motion on the table for a vote; that motion proposes that GECOM moves ahead with the recount, but no vote was yet taken.
Commissioner Vincent Alexander would only say that the discussion Thursday afternoon is to resolve the impasse. He would not be dragged into commenting whether he would support the recount.
GECOM is split evenly along party lines. There are three Commissioners representing the Coalition APNU+AFC and three representing the People’s Progressive Party. If there is a split decision, the Chair, Justice Claudette Singh, would be forced to make the deciding vote.
“As we speak, I believe that everyone recognises that a recount has to or ought to be conducted,” said Sase Gunraj, one of the Commissioners.
He said that some of the discussions surrounded the legality of doing the recount when there is an appeal of the Full Court decision which threw out the injunctions blocking the recount under the supervision of a CARICOM Team.
Gunraj said the court made it clear that the business of GECOM cannot be inquired into by the Court and the recent ruling of the Full Court made it clear that GECOM is empowered by the full scheme of the country’s electoral laws to decide on how it will resolve discrepancies that arise with the elections.
